For a big chunk of America, a Donald Trump win this November is a petrifying prospect. But at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, the picture is totally different. While they may have other disagreements, the Republicans there agree that Hillary Clinton is the scary one, and that a Clinton presidency would be an almost unimaginable worst-case scenario for the US.
On Tuesday night, former Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson took the stage at the RNC, and seemed to suggest that Hillary Clinton is a Satanist.
“Are we willing to elect someone as president who has as their role model someone who acknowledges Lucifer? Think about that!”
Carson’s comments raised plenty of eyebrows. But here in Cleveland, his views are almost par for the course.
No one we spoke with on the convention floor actually said that Clinton serves the Prince of Darkness. But they came pretty close.
Mary Ann Tackett, a Tennessee alternate delegate said, “Crooked Hillary. She lies.”
Lee Valentine, a friend of a Rhode Island delegate said, “The whole Clinton conspiracy is very real… They rule with an iron fist, if anyone gets in their way, they destroy them.”
As you might expect, Benghazi is one big reason for this animus. Although she’s been cleared by a congressional inquiry, delegates here aren’t satisfied. They act like Clinton held the door open as terrorists stormed the compound.
New York delegate Anthony Scannapieco, said, “She let four guys get killed… There’s so many things, but that’s the worst.”
Then there’s that private email server that Clinton used as secretary of state. Even though she won’t be criminally charged, people here still smell a conspiracy.
And if you’ve heard all that before, there are other complaints that might be harder to shrug off.
Hossain Khorram from Washington State said, “I’m Muslim American, concerned what happen in middle east. Look, all the way from Northern Africa clear to Afghanistan is on fire: extremism, torture, rape, suicide bombers… Hillary is the chief architect for president Obama’s foreign policy.”
Add it all up, and Republicans are about as terrified of what Hillary Clinton would do to the country as Democrats are of Donald Trump.
Gail Griffin, an Arizona delegate, said “What would America look like in 2020? Our constitution would be gone… We’re gonna lose the Christian-Judeo fabric of our society… The right to bear arms, the right to free speech.”
Morris Thomas, a California delegate, said, “I have three daughters. It would be very difficult for me to use her as a role model.”
In Cleveland, linking Clinton to Satan, or vowing to put her in an orange pantsuit, is a surefire way to whip the crowd into a frenzy.
They chant, “Lock her up! Lock her up!”
But whether the general public will see this wrath as righteous, or a maybe a bit unhinged, remains to be seen.
Jim caught up with Adam in Cleveland
Jim Braude: Adam Riley joins me now. Hey there Adam.
Adam Riley: Hey Jim.
JB: So you know conventions are partisan affairs, I actually love that, but that “Lock her up,” chant last night was a bit jarring. I want to get your sense, are the delegates as a whole more motivated by, let’s call it the villainy of Clinton, or the virtues of Trump?
AR: I gotta ask you, were you more jarred by the “Lock her up,” chant or by the “She might be a Satanist,” claim? I think they were sort of equal for me. I think, if I had to give an assessment I’d say, and I’m not basing this on polling, it’s about half and half. There’s no question that the animus towards Hillary Clinton in this convention is I think as strong as you’ll have seen in any convention in recent memory. I can’t think of one I’ve been to where the candidate on the other side had people quite as incensed, and outraged, and terrified about what the future would hold if they were elected. But that being said it’d be giving Donald Trump short shrift to suggest he hasn’t tapped into a lot of other fears and insecurities in his own right. He’s also a perfect person to kind of crystalize the case against Hillary Clinton. Think of that nickname he have her “Crooked Hillary,” that’s one on his political skills right? Distilling people to a catch phrase. That embodies, in one phrase, everything that all these people at the convention feel about her. It is interesting, I don’t know if there’s any awareness of positive things he’s said about the Clinton’s over the year, the photos he’s taken where he and Melania are standing beaming next to Hillary and Bill. If the delegates have seen those, or heard about things, which I feel like they must have, they don’t seem to care at all.
JB: So tonight the featured speaker is the vice presidential nominee. Now the job description for those people is attack dog, yet Mike Pence is a guy who has overtly said “I hate negative campaigning.” The other day he said “I’m a Christian, a conservative, and a Republican in that order.” So is he gonna deliver the usual goods or are we gonna hear a totally different phenomenon tonight?
AR: I have no doubt he’ll probably deliver the usual goods. There are a lot of people who probably identify themselves in the same order as Mike Pence on the floor of the convention, Christian, conservative, than Republican, and that doesn’t stop them from hating Hillary Clinton with the fierceness of ten thousand suns. He in his, I think, first speech he gave after being announced as Trump’s running mate gave what a lot of people thought was a very effective evisceration of Hillary Clinton. So I think he will deliver the goods. I would just add, and I’ve said this to you about ten times, you’re probably getting really annoyed with me for saying it again and again, but the job description for Donald Trump’s VP seems to be different. The New York Times has reported, and the Trump campaign is contesting this, that when they were talking with John Kasich about being Trumps running mate, he was told he’d have control over domestic and foreign policy. So again, anyone watching Mike Pence from here on out should be bearing that in mind.
JB: So he’s against negative campaigning before he’s for it. Adam thanks so much, we’ll talk to you tomorrow on Boston Public Radio and again here on Greater Boston.
AR: Thanks Jim.
